No

Neruda Productions presents a special advance matinee screening at 2:00pm the Princess Twin on April 24! All seats $6 at the door for this special advance screening only.

“Completing a loose trilogy on the Pinochet dictatorship that he began with Tony Manero and Post Mortem, Chilean director Pablo Larrain delves deep into the behind-the-scenes machinations of political marketing in No, a dense chronicle of the 1988 plebiscite that led to Chile’s first democratically elected government in 17 years. Anchored by an admirably measured performance from Gael Garcia Bernal as the maverick advertising ace who spearheaded the winning campaign, the film is quietly impassioned.
“Larrain, working with cinematographer Sergio Armstrong, shot the entire film using a period-appropriate U-matic video camera from the early ‘80s. The choice makes aesthetic sense in terms of evoking the era and allowing for dramatic scenes to be smoothly integrated with extensive archival footage.
“The story centers on René Saavedra (Bernal). Like a latter-day Don Draper, René is amusingly introduced presenting a cheesy American-style commercial to clients, its zesty message selling a spirit of youthful rebellion meant to represent the new Chile. Approached to work on the No campaign, René is initially ambivalent. The referendum is viewed as a charade with a foregone conclusion. But René gets on board. His involvement is complicated by the fact that his oily ad agency boss is firmly in the Pinochet camp.
“The nitty-gritty of the campaign’s evolution provides an engrossing narrative. Raising the hackles of hardliners who feel the No side's nightly allocation of national airtime should go to evidence of violence, exiles, and other human rights violations under Pinochet, René instead turns to the same strategies used to sell sodas and microwaves. He remolds the spots to focus on the promise of happiness. A rainbow logo is slapped on the campaign, with footage of sunny meadows and exultant dancers backed by an upbeat anthem. A welcome strain of sly humor accompanies the use of hokey marketing tricks and simplistic messages to bring down a dictatorship.”
- David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter